Posts tagged ‘pepper’

I’ve been on a sun-dried tomatoes and capers kick lately. It all started with a baked avocado with blue cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, capers and pancetta. Then they started showing up in salads (with fresh lettuce from the garden!) Today they snuck into a pita sandwich. When I say snuck, they more so rolled in like Panzers. Let’s face it, neither sun-dried tomatoes nor capers are subtle. The creaminess of the yogurt balances the explosions of flavor created by the capers and sun-dried tomatoes. If you have labneh, you might try using that. (I’m in the process of making labneh right now, actually, using some homemade yogurt. I’ll post about my yogurty exploits soon).

Cut the pita in half and open it up. Spread the hummus evenly on the inside. Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into thin, 1/8″ strips. Sprinkle the tomatoes and capers so that they’re evenly distributed across the hummus. Drizzle a little olive oil and pepper over it. Finally, spread the yogurt over the top of it all.

Last night’s meal unexpectedly went down as “the best thing you’ve made in a long time” according to wifey. “I’ve got goosebumps!” she exclaimed at one point. I mean, while I expected it to be tasty, it went a little beyond that. OK, a lot beyond that. Best of all, it didn’t dirty many dishes or take a long time. (I know that’s a rare occurrence for a lot of my recipes. Sorry, dish-doing-haters). I only cooked for 2, but this should serve about 4. Remember that gnocchi is a gut-buster.

Preheat the oven to 375. Reserve 15-20 of the largest sage leaves for frying later. Chop the rest of the sage and the chives. Set aside. Finely chop the onions and garlic. Heat the oil in a medium skillet. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 5-6 minutes. Add the caraway, and cook until the onions are golden (another 3 minutes or so). Sprinkle the flour in a little at a time so that the fat/oil can absorb it. Let this cook another 10-15 minutes until it’s a toasty, golden color, stirring semi-frequently. Begin adding milk a little at a time, whisking vigorously until it dissolves. Once you have a thick roux, add the chopped sage and chives. Salt & pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and let the flavors meld, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, remove the stems from the portobellas, and put them gills-up on a large baking sheet. Bake for 10-15min until their juices are just starting to run. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook the gnocchi. They’re done when the float. Drain them and set aside. Once the mushrooms are done pre-cooking, remove them. Spoon a little bit of sauce onto the mushroom, and spread it around on the gills. Pile as many gnocchi as you can possibly fit onto each mushroom. Smother in sauce and top with crumbled feta. Put in the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes. While it’s baking, pour 1/4″ of oil into a small frying pan and heat. Take the large sage leaves that you reserved at the beginning into the hot oil bottom-side-up (the way the leaf curls when it fries, it just works better upside-down). Fry for 1-2 minutes until deep green. Remove from oil and let drain on a paper towel or clean dish rag. Sprinkle a little salt on the leaves while they’re still hot, so that it sticks to them.

Remove the mushrooms from the oven, and carefully move them to serving plates using a large spatula. (I used two spatulas. The cooked mushrooms will not longer be firm enough to support the weight of the gnocchi, and you don’t want the gnocchi to slide off the mushroom caps when you serve them.) Garnish with 4-5 fried sage leaves.

Last night we made gnocchi for the first time. It was actually relatively easy, except that something with the recipe was a little screwy. Basically, you’re supposed to mix a little flour in with the potatoes, until it gets to a dough consistency that is slightly sticky to touch, but doesn’t doesn’t stick to you. The recipe calls for two cups. I used close to eight, and it still was too sticky. We just made sure our hands were well floured before handling it. So anyhow, I’m including the original recipe in the hopes that there was something goofy with my batch. Just be sure you have plenty of flour on hand just in case. Otherwise things went well. We made ours a little too big, but it wasn’t too bad. I would say the ideal size would be oblong balls as long as a quarter and as thick as a dime.

Gnocchi can be gut busters, and this recipe (adapted from Mario Batali and the Smitten Kitchen) makes plenty. We fed 5 people with it, and had enough left over to freeze an entire gallon Ziploc bag of them.

Prick the potatoes with a fork. Place them in a large pot of water, bring it to a boil, and cook for 45 minutes until the potatoes are soft when pierced. (It’s important to both prick the potatoes with a fork and to bring the pot of water to a boil with them already inside–rather than adding them to a pot of boiling water. If you don’t follow these two steps, the potato skins may split open causing soggy potatoes. And soggy potatoes may have been my problem). Once the potatoes are finished, remove them from the pot.

Preheat the oven to 375. Take a sharp knife, and cut the top the garlic bulb. A tiny bit of the top of each bulb should be exposed. Place the bulb in the center of a square of a aluminum foil. Sprinkle the top of the exposed cloves with salt and pepper. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the bulb. Wrap the foil over the bulb, and twiste it at the top. Place the bulb on a baking sheet in the oven, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove it when it’s done and let it cool while you make the gnocchi dough.

If you have gloves specifically made for playing Hot Potato, get them now. As I understand it, you want the dough to stay warm while you’re making it, so grab a clean towel (if you don’t have Hot Potato gloves) for handling them. Peel the potatoes, and mash them in a large bowl. (Ideally, pass them through a food mill. I didn’t have one, so I grated them. You could use a food processor, too, or mash them the old fashioned way). Form a volcano hole in the middle of the potatoes, and sprinkle 2 cups of flour over the top. Add the salt and egg to the volcano. Quickly mix them all together so that the egg mixes before it gets cooked by the potatoes. Knead for an additional 4-5 min until the mixture is dough, and slightly sticky to the touch. (This is where my attempt bordered on disastrous. It was super sticky even after an additional 6 cups of flour. Better luck to you).

Take the garlic bulb, and squeeze it from the base towards the top. The roasted cloves should pop out. Take a fork and mash these into a smooth paste. In a large skillet, melt the butter (or add the oil) and heat. Sprinkle the flour a bit at a time, whisking it into the hot oil until it dissolves. Mix in the garlic paste at this time, too. Add the milk a bit at a time, whisking vigorously to make a roux. Add wine/broth until you have a thick sauce, then bring the mixture to a simmer. Sprinkle the cheese on top and mix it into the roux. Add nutmeg, salt & pepper. Reduce heat to low, and stir sparingly. Add more liquid if it’s starts getting to thick. Remove any thick stems from the spinach and roughly chop. Add a tiny bit of water to a pot and heat. Wilt the spinach, drain it and squeeze as much liquid from it as you can. Set it aside to be added at the end.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Take a fist-sized chunk of dough and roll it out kindergarten-style into a snake about the thickness of a dime. Cut the snake into one-inch bits. Roll them briefly in your hands to round any pointy edges, then roll them long-ways along the tines of a fork to create ridges. (Traditionally gnocchi has ridges; we skipped this step). Place them on an oiled baking sheet and rub them around or spray them with oil to prevent sticking. Break off another piece of dough and repeat.

Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and stir once to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Cook about 2 minutes until it floats up to the surface. With a slotted spoon, scoop up the cooked gnocchi and plop them into the sauce. (Alternately, transfer them to an oiled baking sheet and put them in the freezer. Once they’ve frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag. This prevents them from freezing into a large gnocchish lump). Add the spinach to the sauce, and mix them all together.

After getting some chanterelle mushrooms and Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child for my birthday, I decided to try out Julia’s mushroom soup recipe. I didn’t follow her recipe exactly, but the basic premise is there. We used chanterelle–which give off a feint aroma of apricots–shiitake, oyster, crimini (a.k.a. baby portobella, baby bella, brown) and white mushrooms for this. It turned out excellently for what it was. However, upon eating it wifey and I realized a fatal mistake we made.

A thick slice of crusty artisan bread with a slice of swiss cheese toasted under a broiler is absolutely essential to this recipe. DO NOT MAKE IT WITHOUT IT!!!

Melt the butter in a soup pot. When foaming, add the onions for 6-8 minutes until tender but not browning. Mix in the flour until it forms a paste. Slowly add broth to make a roux. (See directions below if you don’t know how to make a roux). Keep adding broth until it’s all added, then toss in the mushroom stems, bay leaf, pepper and parsley. Let the stems simmer for 20-30 min. If you have dried mushrooms, place them in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, and let soak for 20-30 minutes. Do not discard of the liquid! Meanwhile, finely chop the mushrooms tops. You can saute them before adding them to the soup if you want. I sauted everything but the oyster mushrooms. (I’m not a big fan of crimini unless they’re sauted. Too slippery. Yech!)

Once they’re done simmering, remove the mushroom stems, squeeze the juice out of them, and throw them away. Put all but 1/4 c of the mushroom tops in a food processor, add a little liquid from the soup, and mince–not puree. Add all of the mushrooms to the soup, and let them simmer for another 15 min. Reduce the heat to low. Take two egg yolks, and beat them in a bowl for a minute. Add the cream and beat for another couple minutes. Scoop a cup of soup, and beat it very slowly to the egg mixture. Don’t add it too fast, or you’ll curdle the yolk. Once the entire cup has been added, stir the egg mixture back into the soup. Cook for a 5 more minutes to thicken slightly, being careful not to let it come up to a simmer.

Serve with broiled artisan bread with swiss. Garnish with a little chopped parsley.

How to make a roux:

Add a couple tablespoons of broth, stirring vigorously. Once the broth is absorbed by flour/butter mixture, add a little more. Keep adding more liquid once the previous addition has been absorbed until you’ve added all of the liquid. You will be able to add liquid more quickly towards the end. Do this too quickly, the flour won’t absorb the liquid, and you’ll end up with clumps and lumps that are nearly impossible to dissolve. I don’t think it’s possible to add liquid too slowly, but you don’t to add 8 cups of broth 2 T at a time!

This recipe was passed to my mom while I was in high school. We had recently moved to the Czech Republic and were desperately missing some good ol’ Campbell’s tomato soup to got along with our grilled cheese on winter Sundays after church. I live in the States now and can buy Campbells whenever I want. Truth be told, this recipe is good enough to overcome my childhood nostalgia. For those of you know me well, this is no small feat. I hold rigidly (obnoxiously?) to some of my childhood traditions.

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter until golden. Add the flour a little at a time, stirring quickly until it forms a thick paste. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Add water in small amounts, stirring vigorously until it is absorbed by the flour. Add the milk and heat but do not boil. Add sugar, herbs and salt & pepper.

Variation:

Add 1 T of curry powder. This is how Wifey’s mom always prepared it growing up. For years, Wifey couldn’t figure out why Campbells tasted so much better when her mom made it instead of her friend’s mom. They both came out of the can, so why did her mom’s taste so much better? She found out years later about the addition of curry.

This has become an absolute staple in our house. It’s cheap, healthy, low in fat, high in fiber, delicious. We affectionately call it, simply, “corn ‘n’ bean.” For the black beans, we use a pressure cooker to cook dry beans, but you can use canned beans. The spice mix for this recipe is the key.

Instructions:
In a large frying pan, saute the onion in olive oil. 3 minutes before the onions are done, add the garlic, spice mix, chili, salt and pepper. Then, add the beans, corn, salsa and simmer for 10-15 minutes until most of the liquid cooks off.

Toast separately: cumin, coriander, red lentils, and bulgar. To toast, heat a large, ungreased skillet over medium-high heat. Add an ingredient to the hot skillet, stirring continuously to keep from burning. Remove the ingredient from the skillet once it has become toasted (spices will become highly aromatic, lentils will start popping, and the bulgar will smell like toast). Set aside.

Crush cumin, coriander and allspice using a mortar and pestle. Cut dried peppers open, and remove seeds and remnants of stems. Grind peppers into a powder. (A coffee grinder or food processor works well for this).

Chop onion and saute with olive oil in the bottom of a large pot over medium heat. Mince the garlic and habanero pepper. Thoroughly wash anything that the habanero touches. Do not touch your eyes until you have thoroughly washed your hands. After the onions have sauted for 5-6 minutes, add the garlic and habanero. Allow to cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add pepper/spice mixture and tomato paste. Mix vigorously quickly, then add remaining ingredients except for one can of fire-roasted tomatoes. If the chili becomes too thick, add a little water. Cook until green lentils are soft (30-45 minutes). Add remaining can of tomatoes and cook for 5 more minutes.